Dormancy

Sunnies(3,4,5s)

As the calendar changes to December, we have noticed changes in the weather, our environment, and the animals in and around our spaces. These changes have led to shifts in our own human behavior, including adjustments in our schedules and routines. We are now starting our days in our indoor spaces, on the first floor of the main building, which we call The Great Room, The Den, and The Bird Room (also including the hallway bathroom and the Bird Room bathroom). Beginning inside, when the temperature is at its coldest, allows children to settle into the day comfortably and having our first gathering of the day, when we are seated and calm, in a warm space where we can be focused on each other and our work together, rather than simply keeping warm. Half groups go outside during B.E.A.M. time and we go outside as a whole group after lunch, getting to experience our outdoor environment at different times of day. We also, of course, go outside for special work and investigations, like the first snowflakes falling! We were lucky enough to experience an early December snow, squeezing in one day of sledding before a bit of melting and then the icy cold. Even on the coldest days, we have found safe (and shortened) ways to be outside, visiting the creek and moving our bodies on the playground. During inside choice time, we have reveled in our cozy book book den under the loft, explored light in many different ways, and made preparations for Winter Celebration.

We start each day at Morning Gathering with a question or prompt that supports us to dive deeper into our winter investigations. One way we are organizing our research and knowledge about what animals and plants do in the winter is by creating a visual chart, with categories for hibernation, adaptation, and migration. After we sing "hello" to the three animals in our morning song bag, we use books, the internet, and our own background knowledge to sort the animals into their respective categories. While sorting our animals, we realized we needed a new category, for animals that live in places without cold winter weather or animals that depend on humans to survive (like cats and dogs). We are also learning about the plants and trees in our space, as we learn about how deciduous trees (like maples) and evergreens (like cedars, pines, and spruces) experience dormancy in different ways. Humans are included in this We will continue to add to our system, as we still have many wonderings and curiosities about plants and animals during this time of year!

Exploring light is a theme that emerges this time of year, as our shortest day approaches. We have been talking about different winter holidays, including Hanukkah, Diwali, St. Lucia Day, Christmas, winter solstice, and New Year's Eve/Day. We are bringing light into our spaces through light tables, candles, lamps, twinkle lights, and more - any way to bring some brightness to our days! Lights have made their way into our block area and our play dough table as we investigate the ways we use, view, and manipulate light. These new lights combined with different loose parts have led to all sorts of explorations and discoveries.

Once we learned that many animals build cozy dens and burrows for the winter, we had to start building our own! First, we began with mini blocks and forest animals, but quickly we realized our mini-mes would also a love a cozy space. Using unit blocks as our base building materials, we also offered scarves, battery-operated tea lights, and larger loose parts to create winter forest scenes, that included homes for our mini-me characters. Children had the idea to add decorations, so that each mini-me could also celebrate winter holidays, so we created a garland out of scrap fabric to hang above the block area. Other children wanted to add pillows and blankets to the space, so we learned how to sew those items. It was a multi-step process that involved choosing fabric, ironing, creating a paper pattern, cutting and sewing, adding stuffing, and then finishing and using our amazing creations! We are excited to see where these foundational skills lead as we apply them to new projects

Click here to read more about the Sunnies' winter explorations

Flower Patch Kids(5, 6, 7s)

Winter has come a few weeks early! The Flower Patch Kids have been exploring the snow and ice on campus and down by the creek. Sledding, making "treats" in the mud kitchen, breaking ice, and rolling giant snowballs have been the way these Buttercup, Dandelion, Sunflower and Hydrangea kids have been acclimating to the cold environment, growing resiliency, thinking outside of the box to play unique games, exercising their muscles, learning what their bodies need in this season, and adapting by eating heartier snacks and wearing hats, mittens, and warm outer layers. We've also been enjoying the warmth from a cozy fire, a great reward for our hard work collecting and moving firewood.

As the cycle of our school year moves from Harvest time to Dormancy, we are thinking about all the ways that colder temperatures and fewer daylight hours are affecting the plants, trees, and living creatures with whom we share this land. We've been reading books about how animals get ready for the winter and which animals hibernate, migrate, or adapt. We've learned a few new terms, too. Brumation is somewhat similar to hibernation, but it is the term for reptiles that slow down their metabolism and heart rate so much, they appear dead as they hunker down in dens, tree stumps, or even underwater beneath the ice! Some insects migrate, like monarch butterflies and dragonflies. Bees die off in the winter, except the queen bee. When spring arrives, the queen lays eggs to start a new colony. Other insects go into what is called diapause, a period of suspended development that allow the species to survive harsh, cold conditions. The Flower Patch Kids have each chosen one animal that lives in the northeast to research and write about. Where does that animal live? What does it do in the winter time? What does it eat?

Speaking of eating, the kiddos will be making a variety of food gifts to our bird and small animal neighbors to help them with something to eat while we are away on Winter break. They will be stringing cranberries, oat cereal, and peanuts (separate table). In addition, they will spread tubes of cardboard with sunflower butter and roll the tubes in protein rich black oil sunflower seeds. As solstice approaches we've been learning the meaning and reason for celebrating the return of more daylight coming. We've discussed the similarities between many different cultural holidays.

In addition to a changed outdoor environment, the Flower Patch Kids have been introduced to our indoor classrooms. The kids have been getting familiar with the classrooms and the transitional routines that are slightly different from what they know in our lean-tos. They've been getting lots of practice getting into and out of their school snow gear and taking off and putting back on their "going home gear." Each kiddo has taken on the responsibility of tracking their winter mittens and making sure their own pair ends each day back in their cubby. We are so proud of their work and growth! There have been some days when we've had Morning Work indoors and kiddos have enjoyed building animal habitats with blocks, and playing board games and card games.

Bluebirds and Cardinals (7, 8, 9, 10, 11s)

Carriage House Dormancy Projects

The recent delightfully frosty winter temperatures have rolled in just in time for the Carriage House to say so long to Harvest season and welcome our yearly winter theme of Dormancy. We really love winter around here! (More snow for sledding please, Mother Nature! By the way, is it time to go skiing yet?) It’s such a fun time for these kinds of cold adventures and more. AND, we love cozying up for meaningful, nature-inspired indoor projects. We get the best of both worlds here at Randolph, that’s for sure!

This Dormancy season the Upper and Lower Carriage House teamed up once again to offer two different projects: Sewing a quilt for Grandmother Maple and bow making; like indigenous people from our area did to hunt in the winter. Students were split into two groups, with the plan of switching midway through, so that all students would have a chance to participate in both projects. Renée and Jackie are leading the quilt project, while Lewis and Angie lead the bow project. Read on to find out a little bit about how your children are engaging with the theme of Dormancy through hands-on, math and literacy rich work that doesn’t really feel like work, because it’s so engaging!

Sewing a Quilt For Grandmother Maple

For families who were with us last Winter Celebration, you may recall the absolutely precious part of the event when the Lower Carriage House kiddos ceremonially wrapped our beloved Grandmother Maple with a cozy, hand-knit scarf. The students who were involved in this experience last year hold fond memories of it, and were adamant we do something special to show care for Grandmother Maple during her dormancy again this year. The children in the Harvesting Color project group had the idea of using the napkins we dyed and used at Harvest Feast to make a quilt for Grandmother Maple this time around. It’s been an ambitious project, considering neither Renée or Jackie have made a quilt before! If you know us at all, you know that’s never stopped us before! (Chicken run project, anyone?)

So our first order of business was to call in an expert: Our very own Downstairs teacher extraordinaire and quilt-making guru, Katie. To kick off the project Katie brought in a big bin of some of the gorgeous quilts she’s made. She gave us a lesson on the anatomy of a quilt, talked about the process, and how she learned to make such beautiful quilts. We looked at different quilt block patterns and she told us the names of some of the common blocks quilters make. We also learned a bit about the tools we would be using to create Grandmother Maple’s quilt.

Katie showing us her beautiful work and explaining the anatomy of a quilt

Learning about all the different types of quilt block patterns

Once we had an understanding of the basics of quilt making, we started designing our individual quilt blocks that would eventually be pieced together to form the whole community quilt. Kids used paper cut into triangles, rectangles, and squares and played around with design ideas. Once they landed on their final design, they glued the paper down. This became their quilt square pattern.

Using paper shapes to lay out and plan their quilt block

Using graph paper to draw and design their quilt block

Next, they made their fabric choices from the kid-made natural dyed napkins. After their fabric was chosen there was a lot of measurement and geometry work to sort out before starting to cut the fabric. We learned how to use a quilter’s ruler to measure and a rotary cutter on the cutting mat to cut the correct size pieces of fabric, keeping in mind the need for a seam allowance AND being super careful not to get our fingers too close to the blade. No bandaids needed so far! We even learned a cool technique for how to make “half-square triangle” pieces two and four at a time to save time. Because we were limited in how many students could work on the quilt at one time, while they were waiting for their turn, students read different books that had the theme of quilts or worked on math packets that involved geometry. They learned about geometric shapes, as well as the different types of angles and lines; all of which were beneficial when it was their turn to design and cut their quilt pieces. In addition, some of our Beak Jr. writers decided to create a Winter edition and keep their creative writing-juices flowing which includes a “How to Sew a Quilt” tutorial and an interview with Katie. We cannot wait to read the next edition of The Beak Jr.!

Bow and String Making

To segue from the previous indigenous dwellings harvest project in which students were building a wigwam, we are now going “into the wigwam”, to hunker down for a dormancy season of building and repairing bows. This process is in historical alignment with what northeastern indigenous folks would have been doing thousands of years ago. Autumns were for hunting, harvesting, and building up shelters. The winter season was a time for crafting and repairing hickory flatbows, sinew bowstrings, and chert arrowheads, so they could continue to hunt for food throughout the winter. Students are aware of this history, and are equally aware that people of the present day still use bows and arrows to hunt for food.

Students have a few different options for engaging with this project: making the bow, making the string, or making a comic that describes the process of bow making “Then and Now”, highlighting the differences in tools, materials, and methods. Before diving into the hands-on work, each kid spent time doing research using video resources on the particular topic they are interested in.

Many of our seasoned bow-making veterans have opted to do the difficult yet precise labor of shaping the hard hickory and (softer) maple wood, using hand tools such as a drawknife, rasps, and scrapers. Kids used the notes that they previously took during their research time to guide themselves in this work, as well as our finished models from last year.

Meanwhile, some students pioneered our first string building operation. After doing the research on flemish twist bow strings and practicing their knot tying skills, they began constructing the bow strings using artificial sinew. Through trial and error and lots of patience and precision, this crew has not only learned to make a bowstring, but to be resilient in the learning process of doing so. The first couple of strings were made too short, but were able to be put to good use to repair some old bows that were sitting in the shed. Now with all that practice behind them and equipped with new insight, they are ready to make the appropriate adjustments to their process and turn out a couple of strings for the final bows.

Our team of prolific illustrators has been busy drafting out scenes for the “Bow Building: Then and Now” comic strip. This comic will be featured in our next edition of the Beak Jr., which will be a 100% student led and organized product. The comic crew is knowledgeable about all steps of the bow building process – in two time periods! They've been watching videos of experts in the field , taking diligent notes, and watching their peers building bows and strings in the classroom. The comic crew has been able to identify what steps need to be illustrated, make a draft, do self and peer critiques, and will soon be turning out final copies that adhere to a simple rubric for consistency.

Click here to read more about the Carriage House Dormancy Projects!

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